GranTurismo front tyres

CatmanV2

Member
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48,557
Northampton Motorsport. They have quite a good setup.
They do. Although I don't recall them weighting the car like they did at Wheels In Motion.

Could just be my age, and the fact there were three of us abusing them :)

C
 

Zep

Moderator
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9,110
They do. Although I don't recall them weighting the car like they did at Wheels In Motion.

Could just be my age, and the fact there were three of us abusing them :)

C

You are right - if you want it weighted you have to take your own sack of potatoes.
 

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Gazcw

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7,700
Northampton Motorsport. They have quite a good setup.
Ah I know it. Used to be the Carburettor place where I have had twin carbs set up before. They used to have a rolling road from memory. Cheers Zep. Only 11 miles from me.
 

Zep

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9,110
Ah I know it. Used to be the Carburettor place where I have had twin carbs set up before. They used to have a rolling road from memory. Cheers Zep. Only 11 miles from me.

Yes, that’s the one. We mapped the ignition on a friends Caterham on their old dyno many years ago.
 

Lavazza

Member
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1,060
I thought I would share an update to this thread to bring things up to scratch...

First thing, I had to put some front tyres on since the geo was chewing up the inner edges and they were literally down to the cords. So I got hold of some Michelin Supersport to match.

As a stop-gap, before I could get my car to somewhere I could trust, I took my car to a local outfit where I asked the to set the toe to neutral, at least this would help to minimise the inner edges being ruined.

In the end, my chosen specialist was Centre Gravity in Warwickshire (some 4 hours from home), I decided it was worth it since they worked wonders with my GT3.

So, with kind permission of Pete at CG, here are the before and after settings, and a write-up as to what we did. As a caveat, I was not seeking to slavishly conform to Maserati settings, but rather the 'feel' of what I wanted for my personal use, so here goes...

Before and after.

And an explanation from Pete who worked on my car...

"Posting your settings on the forum is fine - be prepared for the 'oooh its out of tolerance' and the 'argh they chose the wrong spec' comments from the Maserati purists!

Just make people aware that we chose those settings based on a number of variables - the height of the car, the amount of adjustment in the eccentrics and the shims, and your mode of use and type of roads. We wanted to make the car more stable across country, less fidgety at speed on the motorway, whilst keeping the 'sportscar' feel when you get out for a blast.

In summary of what I did during the day - mostly **** about for a few hours, swearing at seized adjusters, removing and freeing up rear toe adjusters, and cutting lock nuts off, and only then could I get on with the job in hand. If you want to make people aware, that it is common for similar aged Maserati and Ferrari to suffer with these seizures. Aluminium parts with steel bolts and a good dose of British weather! Ferrari wanted over £500 to adjust the geometry on the FF the day before, and then refused to adjust it when they found the rear toe link seized. I spent an hour removing it and free'd it up.

It is important to remember that before we started, the car was trimmed to the Maserati specification, full tank of fuel, 75kg driver and passenger, and then tyre pressures set. Only then can your car be accurately compared to the specification. It would be interesting to know how many other forum users who have had their car aligned, had the weight ballast in the driver and passenger seat. (not saying anyone is right or wrong, just curious if Maserati dealers follow the workshop procedure for their own cars). We then use the Maserati specification as a guideline, and my experience, to deliver a car that is tailored to you. I could see 10 GranTursimo's in the same week, and they would all likely be set up differently dependant on individual requirements and driving styles.

I hope this helps. And many thanks for sharing your experience with other Maserati enthusiasts."

Hope you find this useful, and if you do contact Centre Gravity, feel free to mention my post on this forum.IMG_20190115_175531.jpgIMG_20190115_175541.jpg
 

Zep

Moderator
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9,110
I think you made a good choice, their rep is excellent. Not sure I agree that we are generally hung up on everything being factory though.

It’s interesting that the camber is reduced but the caster is the same. The nett effect should be a reduction in additional camber on lock so it will be interesting to see how it pans out for you in terms of wear and feel.

Can’t argue with his comments about the nuts and bolts either, I know they can be a *****!
 

hashluck

Member
Messages
1,515
Great write up from someone who clearly knows what they are doing but.... have you driven it yet and what did you think?
 

azapa

Member
Messages
1,300
.. and how did it feel afterwards?

My strad is lovely on the track, but hunts, dips and dives everywhere on a regular public road, or worse again, a badly maintained one. It makes it very hard to put power down and really drive anywhere more than 7/10ths
 

Lavazza

Member
Messages
1,060
In terms of feedback post geo re-set, this is what I fed back to Centre Gravity...

"Having just arrived home after 200 miles or so since you worked your magic, I'm pleased to confirm that the handling is transformed - and that isn't an exaggeration - is really is.

The nervous front-end (very unbecoming for a big GT car) has gone, instead, there is now reassuring front end grip and a planted feeling I can trust. The car now flows through the twisties without any fuss or fidgeting which is exactly what I asked for at the start.

The rear-end "shimmy" when accelerating on bumpy country roads has disappeared too. I'm much happier to deploy the power of my GranTurismo with precision, which is really important when threading it down some pretty narrow country lanes.

It was worth every penny and it was a pleasure to catch up with you again."
 

azapa

Member
Messages
1,300
In terms of feedback post geo re-set, this is what I fed back to Centre Gravity...

"Having just arrived home after 200 miles or so since you worked your magic, I'm pleased to confirm that the handling is transformed - and that isn't an exaggeration - is really is.

The nervous front-end (very unbecoming for a big GT car) has gone, instead, there is now reassuring front end grip and a planted feeling I can trust. The car now flows through the twisties without any fuss or fidgeting which is exactly what I asked for at the start.

The rear-end "shimmy" when accelerating on bumpy country roads has disappeared too. I'm much happier to deploy the power of my GranTurismo with precision, which is really important when threading it down some pretty narrow country lanes.

It was worth every penny and it was a pleasure to catch up with you again."
Thanks for that! As you can tell from my comments, I am not too happy with day to day handling of the stradale. I'm a it too far to drive it in though... Do you think your mate would mind sending the standard "stradale" specs from his system?
 
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Lavazza

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1,060
As for the settings, you'd have to call them or email and ask Pete.

How far away are you? For me, it was worth travelling over 200 miles, which was an excuse for a mini-break in Stratford.
 

azapa

Member
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1,300
As for the settings, you'd have to call them or email and ask Pete.

How far away are you? For me, it was worth traveling over 200 miles, which was an excuse for a mini-break in Stratford.
Erm, I put it in Waze and it's 12,000 Kms! (i am in south america..)
 

GeoffCapes

Member
Messages
14,000
Interesting that the settings were so different from when I had Elite do the same thing, to the same car earlier last year. Albeit with spacers on.
I think the documentation is in with the history of the car.

Would the spacers have made that much difference?

When they had done their work the car felt so much better than before (much more composed), and they maintained there was no way that the tracking had ever been done before (regardless of what the history I had, had said).

Something doesn't add up.
 

Lavazza

Member
Messages
1,060
Erm, I put it in Waze and it's 12,000 Kms! (i am in south america..)
Ha... that's funny (and understandable). Well I hope you're having better weather than I have!
I'm sure if you call CG and speak to Pete he will try to help you out. I know he has the settings for the Strad'
 

Lavazza

Member
Messages
1,060
Interesting that the settings were so different from when I had Elite do the same thing, to the same car earlier last year. Albeit with spacers on.
I think the documentation is in with the history of the car.

Would the spacers have made that much difference?

When they had done their work the car felt so much better than before (much more composed), and they maintained there was no way that the tracking had ever been done before (regardless of what the history I had, had said).

Something doesn't add up.
The documentation from your original geo settings is in the thread.
The measurements it had when I took it there were what they were. Whatever it was running couldn't have been right because within 300 miles of driving since I bought the car the front tyres were ruined (pics in the thread).
I'm just happy that it's right now and I trust CG.
 

P R

Member
Messages
1,382
I had my Ghibli toed out at the front due to inner wear. It is still doing it so might go a bit further.

And they did use ballast in the driver seat, an actual driver as you cant get out of the car without it going into park since the software update following the death of that star trek actor!
 

Scaf

Member
Messages
6,513
Interesting thread for sure.
My GT with 22mm spacers all round has standard geo. I am very happy with the way it handles and behaves on the road and tyre wear seems fine.
Guess all cars and drivers are different.
 

bigbob

Member
Messages
8,952
I had my Ghibli toed out at the front due to inner wear. It is still doing it so might go a bit further.

And they did use ballast in the driver seat, an actual driver as you cant get out of the car without it going into park since the software update following the death of that star trek actor!

Ah modern autos which won’t reverse with the door open. GranTurismo is old school in that regard.